Brahmasree Puthumana
Govindan Namboothiri(44),resident of Puthumana Illam,Chemmattam
Vayal,kanhangad is a famous thitampu nritham artist(expert) at
temples.He has performed at almost all the temples(around 200)
in north kerala for the past 25yrs .his guru is Brahmasree
MADAMANA SANKARAN EMBRANTHIRI(68),resident of
Muthalappara,Neeleswaram,Kasaragod district has 45 years of
experience and winner of VETHIRAMANA AWARD for senior thitampu
nritham artists.he started with ARANGETTAM at Sree ATHIYAMPOOR
SUBRAHMANYA SWAMY TEMPLE,Kanhangad during the SHASHTHI
UTHSAVAM-1979.He was inspired by Late Brahmasree THEKKILLAM
KESHAVAN EMBRANTHIRI(First VETHIRAMANA AWARD WINNER) and another
senior artist in this field Brahmasree PUTHUSSERY KRISHNAN
EMBRANTHIRI resident of Payyanur.He is also famous at the
National level throughout India.Video clippings of his
performance is even included in the topics of interest of the
dance researchers in the foreign universities .
He follows entirely THEKKAN SAILI and has excelled in this
area.He has recieved many honours
during the past years from well known temples likeSree(CHIRAKKA
KAVU,THALASSERY,KUTTAMATH BHAGAVATHI
TEMPLE,CHERUVATHUR,PALLIKKUNNU MAHAVISHNUTEMPLE,KANATHUR,EDAKKAD
VISHNU TEMPLE,KANNUR) etc..Initially he has performed in the
telecast on
DOORDARSHAN on "KSHETHRAKALAKAL"(in section thitampunritham)
while he was performing at Sree KOLLYA MOOKAMBIKA
TEMPLE,ULLAL.After that he performed in many times for various
local channels at Kasaragod like Indiavision,city channels and
his NRITHAM appears during the UTSAVA season. His performance at
VEERABHADRA TEMPLE,CHERUVATHUR (The second famous ARATTUTHSAVAM
of north kerala VAYALIL ARATTU) was captured by the ASIANET and
was telecasted.his performance at CHERUPUZHA Ayyappa temple was
considered the best performance in the year 2005 by a panel of
old and experieneced experts.His performance at Sree
VISHNUMANGALAM temple,Kanhangad will be telecasted in the SURYA
channel under the programme "KELI".He will be performing for the
KAIRALI channel also soon.
His style of performing thitampu nritham is unique and makes
attractive to the viewers even without the knowledge of this
divine art.It is always found that there will be a large crowd
to watch this performance from areas far away from temples.He
keeps all the conventional styles as such with varities which
comes under the new trend.he always says "I perform thitampu
nritham with bhakthi which is the secret of my success" and he
does not believe in the degrading tendencies by the new artists
to perform mere dance instead of NRITHAM due to lack of
effort.He remains performing different SHAILIS for continous 30
minutes each for 4 THALAVATTAMS(For continous 2 hrs) and says
the "ADANTHA" is his favourite.He is becoming popular nowadays
as he always sticks only to this art and never tries to copy
other dances and art forms.Govindan Namboodiri has performed in
more than a hundred temples even at the age of 25 and won
appreciation and numerous awards from his admirers. Every year
he performs at new temples in North Kerala and Karnataka. He has
delighted crowds in various parts of Karnataka including
Mangalore and Bangalore apart from the fans in
Trivandrum,Kochi,Thrissur and Calicut.It is a measure of his
fame that people even from far waay places crowd to the temples
where he is a performer.Every year Govindan Namboothiri gets
invitations from new temples. Such is his popularity. It is a
reflection on his devotion to this divine art that he is giving
training to many aspiring youngsters. Further, he is doing
research on the origin, development, scope and peculiarities of
this art and intends to bring out an authentic book. The purpose
is to rejuvenate Thitambu Nritham, which is facing eclipse.He
was the only artist selected for a 1 hr special interview
session by Indiavision in Thidampu section last year.
He respects all THITAMPU artists whether they follow THEKKAN or
VATAKKAN saili and continues with its magestic performance from
vrishchikam to medam.He comes to perform THITAMPU NRITHAM under
request which has fascinated thousands of viewers(art lovers)
and devotees irrespecive of weight of the Thitampu.It is a
matter of special interest that there are many temples where he
continues to perform since he was assigned since 1979!! He lives
as pure NAMBOOTHIRI with pooja and maintains old tradition of
the community.The soft spoken expert of thitampu nritham is
known by majority of marars in north kerala and respected by
them.He remembers how he was introduced by KADANNAPPALLI
SANKARAN KUTTY MARAR to PALLIKKUNNU KANATHOOR temple for
performance with Late Brahmasree thekkillam Kesavan Embranthiri.
It is a reflection on his devotion to this divine art that he is
giving training to many aspiring youngsters. Further, he is
doing research on the origin,Drumming, development, scope
andother peculiarities of this art and intends to bring out an
authentic book. The purpose is to rejuvenate Thitambu Nritham,
which is facing eclipse. A majority of his fans believes that
the honours recieved by him so far is not sufficient to greet
him for his excellence and the dedication he shows in this
field.
Article provided by: Rajan Kodoth. Email:
rajan_kodoth@yahoo.co.in
Coutesy: Members of committees of various temples at
Kannur,Kanhangad&Mangalore,Unnikrisha warrier(Interview with the
artist)
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